A witness saw smoke billowing from an engine of a vintage military plane moments before it crashed and burned after taking off from a Fairbanks airport on April 23, ending two pilots’ lives, as per a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The tragic incident involving the 54D-DC aircraft, a relic from World War II, has drawn national attention due to the rarity of such planes and the critical role they play in servicing remote Alaskan communities.
The eyewitness account, detailed in the NTSB report, described one of the plane’s engines not running and emitting white smoke shortly after takeoff. This dire observation was soon followed by the sight of flames. The aircraft, a militarized version of the Douglas DC-4, was attempting to deliver 3,400 gallons of unleaded fuel and two large propane tanks to Kobuk, a small Inupiat village inaccessible by road or barge, emphasizing the dependence of rural Alaskan areas on air transport for essential supplies.
The severity of the situation escalated rapidly, as communicated by one of the pilots to air traffic control, declaring there was a fire on board and expressing an intention to return to Fairbanks, located only 7 miles away. However, the NTSB’s report detailed that surveillance footage captured a more harrowing sequence of events: white smoke trailing an engine, soon engulfed in flames, and then “a bright white explosion is seen just behind the number one engine followed by fragments of airplane wreckage falling to the ground.”
In a desperate and ultimately uncontrolled descent, the plane made a left turn, during which the stricken engine detached from the wing. It crashed on a slope above the Tanana River, skidding to the riverbank and leaving a scattered path of debris. Most of the aircraft was destroyed in a post-crash fire, but the engine was recovered from the frozen river below and is slated for a detailed examination as part of the ongoing investigation.
While the NTSB has not yet released the probable cause of this fatal crash, the witness’s observations and surveillance video provide a chilling narrative of the aircraft’s final moments. The victims have not been positively identified by the state medical examiner’s office, according to Austin McDaniel, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Public Safety. The owner of the plane, Alaska Air Fuel Inc., has refrained from commenting on the incident.
Relevant articles:
– Witness Says Alaska Military Plane that Crashed Had Smoke Coming from Engine After Takeoff, NTSB Finds, Military, 05/03/2024
– Witness says Alaska plane that crashed had smoke coming from engine after takeoff, NTSB finds, The Associated Press, 05/02/2024
– Witness says Alaska plane that crashed had smoke coming from engine after takeoff, NTSB finds, SCNow, 05/02/2024